New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Pesticide Control Program

Aquatic Pesticide Permits Unit

AQUATIC PESTICIDE USE IN NEW JERSEY – 2005

In 1983 the NJDEP Pesticide Control Program (PCP) implemented an Aquatic Pesticide 

Use Permit Program. The specific purpose of this program was to identify and control 

what pesticides are being applied to New Jersey’s waterbodies. Recently, the PCP was 

able to gather data from Records of Actual Treatment (RATS) and compute the total 

amount of each aquatic pesticide used during the aquatic permit season, which runs from 

April to October. Furthermore, this total usage has also been broken down into Active 

Ingredient by County and by Watershed Management Area.

All aquatic applicators are responsible for submitting their RATS forms to the department 

by November 15 of each treatment year. These records are then entered into the PCP’s 

database, and checked for any errors or misapplications. Once corrected, these data are 

analyzed and the pounds of active ingredient used determined for each treatment record. 

These data are then transposed to display the different permutations listed above.

Table 1 lists the chemicals and their amounts in pounds of active ingredient (A.I.) used 

during the 2005 Aquatic Pesticide Permit season. The most widely used trade names 

corresponding with these chemicals are also included. 

Table 2 lists the chemicals and their A.I. amounts applied by county for the 2005 season.

Table 3 lists the chemicals and their A.I. amounts applied by Watershed Management 

Areas for the 2005 season. For more information on Watershed Management areas, 

please visit http://www.nj.gov/dep/watershedmgt, or contact the NJDEP Division of Watershed 

Management.

This information will help us address the impacts, if any, of specific aquatic pesticides to 

the environment in a particular area, as well as track the use of these pesticides. 

However, we must keep in mind that aquatic ecosystems are extremely dynamic and may 

change significantly from year to year and thus, may effect the trend of such pesticide 

usage over time. Another factor is the adoption of IPM (Integrated Pest Management). 

One of the goals of the Pesticide Control Program is pesticide use reduction, and IPM is a 

tool that can be used to achieve this. Although aquatic IPM practices are currently few, 

many lake management associations have already incorporated some techniques into their 

management programs. 

The following data has been gathered and charted for there is a general interest in the 

trends of aquatic pesticide use for the control of aquatic weeds throughout the state of 

New Jersey. All information is based on permitted sites only. 
Table 1. Compounds used during the 2005 Aquatic Pesticide Permit season and their amounts (pounds of active ingredient). Brand names listed comprise the most 

widely used products, and are not intended to be comprehensive.

Active Ingredient Brand Name Products Total (Lbs. Active Ingredient)

2, 4-D AquaKleen, Navigate 919

Copper Cutrine Plus, Cutrine Ultra, Captain 4987

Copper Sulfate Chem-One, Phelps-Dodge 91119

Diquat Reward 5720

Endothall Aquathol-K 2178

Fluridone Sonar AS, Avast AS 1275

Glyphosate Glypro, Rodeo, Aquapro, TouchdownPro 5228

Hydrogen Dioxide GreenCleanPro, Pak 27 124

Imazapyr Habitat 97

Triclopyr Renovate3 57

Grand Total 111704

Table 2. Pesticide amounts (in pounds of active ingredient) used during the 2005 Aquatic Pesticide Permit season by county. *Note: Some records were omitted from 

this analysis as they incorporated several counties in a single treatment. This omission represents a very small percentage (0.04%) of the overall data set.

County 2, 4-D Copper Copper Sulfate Diquat Endothall Fluridone Glyphosate Hydrogen 

Dioxide

Imazapyr Triclopyr Pounds of 

A.I.

Percent

Atlantic 248 29 91 84 - 6 470 - - - 927 0.83

Bergen - 115 15407 584 102 49 188 - 3 - 16448 14.73

Burlington 231 354 533 377 16 58 279 - 4 - 1852 1.66

Camden - 85 40 60 - 22 15 - - - 222 0.20

Cape May - 7 - 8 - 4 319 - - - 338 0.30

Cumberland - - - - - - 269 - 5 - 273 0.24

Essex - 2033 5982 104 4 1 - 12 - - 8136 7.29

Gloucester - 81 146 64 - 9 264 - - - 563 0.50

Hudson - - - - - - 94 - 38 - 132 0.12

Hunterdon - 50 158 167 2 15 1 6 - - 398 0.36

Mercer - 387 1251 31 - 9 3 - - - 1681 1.51

Middlesex - 69 244 108 - 18 283 - 23 - 745 0.67

Monmouth - 333 7506 316 40 8 19 - 4 - 8226 7.37

Morris 66 726 12535 937 575 284 53 91 - - 15267 13.67

Ocean - 81 460 158 24 105 - - 9 - 837 0.75

Passaic - 84 14389 656 332 148 1 - - - 15609 13.98

Salem - - 1818 2 - - 2719 - - - 4539 4.07

Somerset - 181 778 533 68 5 1 13 - - 1580 1.42

Sussex - 118 29464 1164 1013 534 170 - - 57 32519 29.12

Union - 94 56 108 - 1 29 2 12 - 301 0.27

Warren 375 161 261 260 - 2 5 - - - 1064 0.95

Grand Total 919 4987 91119 5720 2178 1275 5181 124 97 57 111659
Table 3. Pesticide amounts (in pounds of active ingredient) used during the 2005 Aquatic Pesticide Permit season by Watershed Management Area (WMA). *Note: 

Some records were omitted from this analysis as they incorporated several WMA’s in a single treatment. This omission represents a very small percentage (0.19%) of 

the overall data set.

WMA 2, 4-D Copper Copper 

Sulfate

Diquat Endothall Fluridone Glyphosate Hydrogen 

Dioxide

Imazapyr Triclopyr Pounds of 

A.I.

Percent

1 375 266 6690 1284 742 61 133 - - 38 9587 8.60

2 - 25 23842 287 443 477 42 - - 19 25136 22.55

3 - 100 17709 379 202 218 16 - - - 18624 16.70

4 - 82 1680 749 264 6 2 - - - 2783 2.50

5 - 92 14347 177 7 7 280 - 40 - 14949 13.41

6 66 701 7764 629 368 240 40 19 - - 9827 8.81

7 - 2105 6104 179 - 1 161 2 13 - 8564 7.68

8 - 125 697 543 70 24 - 104 - - 1563 1.40

9 - 121 150 231 - 17 145 - - - 664 0.60

10 - 331 681 190 - 6 17 - 23 - 1249 1.12

11 - 161 761 9 - 9 - - - - 939 0.84

12 - 231 692 281 40 8 9 - 4 - 1264 1.13

13 - 80 7176 161 24 105 250 - 9 - 7805 7.00

14 - 12 93 62 - 1 380 - - - 548 0.49

15 248 29 91 84 - 6 126 - - - 583 0.52

16 - 7 - 8 - 4 313 - - - 332 0.30

17 - 41 1958 44 - - 2990 - 5 - 5036 4.52

18 99 253 217 177 - 25 272 - - - 1044 0.94

19 132 181 220 213 16 55 4 - 4 - 826 0.74

20 - 5 148 10 - 5 2 - - - 169 0.15

Grand Total 919 4947 91018 5696 2178 1274 5181 124 97 57 111491